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=Introduction to unit: Gothic Poetry.=

This unit on “Gothic Poetry” would best be suited to mixed ability class taking the Advanced Preliminary English course as the concepts and contexts within the Gothic Genre are quite complex, however they can be differentiated to suit many levels of understanding. As the gothic genre of writing has often been described as an amalgamation of the ‘horror’ and ‘romantic’ genres, the unit would also be suitable to a co-ed class and as the genre taps into notion of representing Victorian psychological and social anxieties, the unit seems particularly applicable to Year 11 students who may be able to relate to the material through their own experience with contemporary social anxieties.

In connection to the Stage 6 syllabus, a unit on gothic poetry allows the students to access the required course content such as encouraging the students to “refine their understanding of the relationships between language and meaning” and “…learn to use language in complex and subtle ways to express experiences, ideas and feelings” (English Stage 6 Syllabus, p. 36) through the investigation of the context of the cultures and eras that influenced gothic writing. The focus of the anthology is the gothic genre of poetry. Gothic literature is said to have begun with Horace Walpole’s novel //The Castle of Otranto// in 1764, but progressed from being treated as pure entertainment to a more socio-culturally significant way of expressing certain cultural anxieties, such as the idea of “the other” and changing gender and family ideals. It is also a genre that has continued to transform throughout time, for example, from the Victorian era to post- WWI through to the present day where the genre can often be seen to be represented in contemporary song lyrics, and this is reflected in the choice of poems in the anthology.

The selection of poetry in the anthology has been chosen for a variety of reasons, but the overall focus of the anthology was to demonstrate the various ideas and concepts that are represented in gothic poetry. Some of the poets included in the anthology are characterised by their founding contribution to the genre, such as Edgar Allen Poe, whose poems //The Raven// and //The City in the Sea// not only represent concepts such as the gothic landscape and archetypes, but also because he one of the most well-known poets of the genre, which provided a suitable introduction to the unit for the students. Other poets, such as Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti, although not strictly gothic poets, have also been included as they too include gothic conventions in their writing, and express gothic themes such as murder and fear of the changing roles of women. I have tried to include a selection of poets from a variety of cultures, countries and times in order to demonstrate the pervasiveness of the genre.